Angular JS

Angular [stress Version 2/4 - and there never was a V3] is the framework of choice for the real developer/programmer. It is both loved and loathed because it doesn't really resemble web-site design unless you are a Java programmer. It uses a language called Typescript which is a super-set of Javascript and completely object-orientated.

So why the applause from the developer community ? A good question and the answer, bar that it comes from Google, is that assuming you can truly appreciate OOP and Google use C++, Java and Python, you are building a real application here which will, in time, take the web to the next level.

For run of the mill sites, Angular is probably a bit too complex, but if your site is more like an application then Angular would be the way to go. We are currently using Angular with some new `Greenfield` sites.

Any Angular web-site will in effect be a complete re-write and you really have to use Angular as a sort of `IDE` in association with `npm`. Don't despair as Angular [with npm] can/should be able to use all your favourite libraries or solutions and by way of an example we deploy Materialize with jQuery, albeit that Materialize is a Google product which isn't a huge ask, but there are lots of other very popular `add-ons` and as long as they have NPM interfaces then Angular is a go.

What this means in real terms is that all of the awesome libraries that you might be used to, e.g. mysql[2], mapbox, moment, chart etc. can all be used seamlessly within your Angular App because they all have `NPM modules`. Angular is also the backbone of Ionic [true apps] so if you are looking for a consistent desktop/app platform then this is the way to go. Just as a side-note, Angular is NOT NodeJS and while there are some similarities [JS] and the two work well together, think of Angular as a client platform and NodeJS as server-side.

The last word here is that Angular [remember it's a Google product] is very web-tomorrow and as we said off the bat: it's going to make your web-site/systems into real web-applications so think re-write and clean-sheet. Your current or planned database structure won't be affected in any way, so no need to panic if you are migrating, but if your existing system is say WordPress or CodeIgniter [PHP] then bar APIs [if you use them] you will be moving over to next-gen web technologies - if you are ready for that ?